Tag: Stag’s Hollow

Easter weekend is coming up for many people around the world.  There are many traditions besides the Easter celebrations among different faiths but enjoying meals with family and friends is a big part of each of them.  Here are 6 BC VQA white and 6 BC VQA red wines that I reviewed from Fall 2022 till now that I think…

Can you name the native grapes of the Rhone Valley?  There are the north and south ends of the valley and different varieties.  The main varieties of the north end are Syrah, Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne. The northern Rhone is cooler and the valley has steep hillsides while in the southern Rhone, the climate is more Mediterranean and the terrain…

Do you love Pinot Noir?  BC Pinot Noir?  I do love Pinot Noir and BC Pinot Noir.  We have the right cool climate to help bring out the nuances of Pinot Noir, compared to some warmer climate wines from this grape.  Acidity, floral and fruit aromas and flavours all excite me.  The yearly BC Pinot Noir Celebration is coming up…

Okanagan Falls, located between Penticton and Oliver, holds, I think, a sweet spot for growing grapes and making wine.  It has long warm days and cool nights, which allow the grapes to reach full ripeness as well as keep their acidity.  The Okanagan Falls Skaha Winery Association, consisting of 14 wineries, with 32 vineyards, held a tasting recently, which I attended.  In…

Natural wine is a hot topic in the wine world. Maybe you have not heard of it. There is some range of what is a “Natural” wine. It could fall into the organic, or biodynamic, or sustainable categories for some people.  During this seminar at Cornucopia, we had DJ Kearney, wine educator, writing and judge, give her perspective on Natural…

It has been a long voyage of discovery for me to find out what type of relationship Riesling grapes have with the soils of BC, or as some may say the terroir of the area.  As mentioned in previous articles, it started with the idea, then contacting all BC wineries that produce a Riesling wine, to ask for a sample…

The hard part of the BC Riesling Review is done.  I tasted through 35 wines over a period of 3 months.  I can say that it has been a very interesting experience.  Below are the notes.  I tasted each wine two times.  The first time was as soon as I poured the wine in my glass.  The second time was…

I am a lover of Riesling.  It allows the wine maker to produce wine in many styles, from bone dry, to a lusciously sweet ice wine.  While we here in BC have talked about making very good aromatic white wines, I have not yet seen a systematic analysis of our aromatic grapes, Riesling in particular, and how the wines differ…

04.16.2013.  That’s the date that the Okanagan Falls Winery Association (OFWA) launched their Inaugural “The Heart of Wine Country Comes to Vancouver” event to show their wines to the wine trade, which includes wine writers like me, but as well wine shop and restaurant owners and staff.  If you ask someone in Vancouver where is the Naramata Bench, they could…

BC wines are continuing to make strides around the world.  Last year BC wineries won more than 2000 medals in national and international competition according to the BC Wine Institute.  BC has over 208 wineries today.  We grow over 75 different grape varieties!  Merlot is the most planted grape in BC, and Pinot Gris is the most planted white grape…